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The Curse of the Cat-Woman

By John Francis Moore and Kieron Dwyer. Lee Loughridge, colorist and John Costanza, letterer. From Batman Chronicles #11.

I just discovered this recently and really like it. I'm leaving out the big plot points because I don't want to spoil it (and because this is as much as I can include-it's a dense though not lengthy story) but I highly recommend it if you like pulp, and/or horror and/or noir. Personally, I love the layout, art, language and story--wish I could include more because I think it's fantastic--and I think it has a really perfect ending.

Ebay's got a couple of copies up...(Sadly, this Batman Chronicles--an all Elseworlds issue--has three stories. The other two--which I didn't care for--have been reprinted. But not this particular story.)

It's almost jarring to have Bruce calling her "doll" and to have Alfred be a bartender, but then you have Bruce and Selina being drawn to each other like magnets and they're so recognizable that way, you know it's the same characters.

On a vaguely off-tangent, nobody appreciates letterers. 'Specially now that everything's all computer-generated handwriting fonts. Does John Costanza still work in comics? Because I always loved his work.

He did a zombie book with Steve Niles called Remains (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remains_(comic)); I thought that his art for it was pretty awful. His site indicates that he also does commercial artwork; perhaps he's busy with that, although I'd like him to return to comics (as long as it's not like Remains or the poopy-kaka juvenile humor that he did for LCD, his own book).

Selina should really be drawn as a traditional femme fatale type more often - it's a good look for her. Really, it goes back to her classic Golden Age outfit, which was basically a slinky dress with a mask and a cape. I've always somewhat preferred that look - sure, it doesn't work if she's going to be a literal catburglar, but as the 'master criminal' type that she used to be, it suits her admirably.

Femme fatale, yes? She'd be who I'd vote for, anyway; we need more classic femme fatales in comics. They used to be all over the place, but they've vanished recently - the only one I can think of offhand is the White Rabbit (the DC version), and she hasn't made an appearance for years.

Hmmm. I'll look it up. I have a vague recollection that I ought to know what you're talking about-and it's not like I don't know Batman stuff, although of course I don't know everything, but I... okay, I have no real idea.

Well, she's not a Batman villain, actually, she's a Steel villain. I don't know if you've ever read the whole 'Death of Superman' storyline, but she first showed up during the 'Reign of the Supermen' bit - she was John Henry Irons's ex-lover and ex-colleague at the arms company where he used to work. She stole some of his old designs, and started manufacturing them and selling them on the streets of Metropolis as 'Toastmasters', prompting horrific gang violence, which prompted John Henry to build the Steel armor. I know she showed up afterwards in the Steel series, but as I don't know much about that, I'm not sure how much impact she had. She's a classic femme fatale - slinky dress, talent for wrapping men round her little finger, ever-present cigarette holder, the works. (She's also interesting in that she's one of only two only albino African Americans in comics that I can think of, the other being Tombstone from Spider-Man.)

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